


The Eerie Halls of Starkiller Base

by bewithmereylo



Series: Reylo Buzzfeed Unsolved Verse [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Buzzfeed Unsolved, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben Solo is a Wimp, Buzzfeed Unsolved References, Emotional Constipation, F/M, Ghost Hunters, Gratuitous References to Ghost Adventures, It's Ben's Favorite Show, Mutual Pining, Only When it Comes to Ghosts, POV Rey (Star Wars), Paranormal Investigators, Rey and Ben are the Worst Ghost Hunters Ever, Rey is Shane and Ben is Ryan, They Fall Fast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:53:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24795733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bewithmereylo/pseuds/bewithmereylo
Summary: After a survey is put out to fans of theGalactic Bulletin, video gamer Ben Solo and food challenger Rey Johnson are tasked to go on a ghost hunt to the infamous Starkiller Base.  Will they be able to answer the age-old question: are ghosts real?
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Reylo Buzzfeed Unsolved Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947796
Comments: 20
Kudos: 57
Collections: Spooky Gems





	The Eerie Halls of Starkiller Base

**Author's Note:**

> I've been binging way too much Buzzfeed Unsolved during quarantine so here's my crack at a Reylo AU. Thank you so much to svalewayland for making an incredible moodboard for the fic, and to my beta who is the Ryan to my Shane. Hope you enjoy!

Rey throws in an extra pair of pants, just in case, and zips up her overnight bag. Checking to make sure she has everything (phone charger, toothpaste, her pocket knife just in case), she locks her apartment up and makes her way down the seven flights of stairs towards the parking garage. Of course the elevator would be in need of repairs the day she had to leave her apartment complex after dark.

Plugging her phone into her car so it can berate her for making a wrong turn, Rey sets off into pitch black night. This is new territory for her, and while she is excited for the adventure, knowing she has to spend an entire night with fucking Ben Solo gives her an anxious, almost queasy feeling.

It’s not like she could say no; the poll put onto the _Galactic Bulletin_ made it very clear who the fans wanted to team up for a night of ghost hunting. Rey is the newbie in this situation, having joined the news outlet only a few months prior. She gained a fast following after her food challenge videos began to go viral, much to the dismay of her fellow co host, Ben, for the night. She had, how did he put it? _Stolen his thunder_ ; practically his entire fanbase went to watch Rey scarf down deeply fried food at carnivals and theme parks. His video game playthroughs just weren’t getting the hits like they used to, so he had been making her life a living hell ever since she joined the team. Needless to say, Rey was thoroughly fed up, and this was just the icing on the cake. 

_“Turn right on Ilum Avenue,”_ the GPS barks at Rey. She hooks a sharp right onto a dirt road, seeing her home for the coming night. Thankfully, Finn reminded her earlier in the day to bring a mattress pad so she would have more than a thin sleeping bag between her and the filthy floor of the old military base. Usually him and Poe were the ones on these ghost hunts, but they wanted to switch things up, and that’s where Rey came into play. Why it was necessary to sleep overnight, she didn’t know, but they were paying her double what she usually made for this video. She sucks it up and continues driving down the road. 

Rey spots his SUV farther up and parks next to it. The building stands five stories tall, and in the cover of the night Rey can’t see either end. The windows are blown out of their metal frames and she hears the beams supporting the porch of sorts sway. The figure standing on the porch yells out her name and she steps out of the car, rolling her eyes at Ben’s impatient foot tapping.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Ben snaps, moving aside so Rey can walk through the front door. It’s covered in graffiti and crumbling paint from when the building was occupied. 

“I’m on time.” She is; it’s only the two of them. Rey declined to have a camera crew to make it more authentic, and Ben hadn’t been at that meeting to argue, so they were alone. She grabs the camera from her backpack and powers it up, finding that Ben has already attached a GoPro to his chest. “Did you turn it on yet?”

“No, don’t want the battery to run out.” Ben’s black sweater doesn’t seem like enough, the breeze cutting straight through Rey’s jacket. The camera on his chest emphasizes his large chest and Rey averts her gaze, focusing on fixing the GoPro to the mount. 

When she first met Ben, it was an understatement to say she was blown away by his size. He didn’t seem like the sort to be hunched over a computer all day playing video games, but she learned he made up for it by spending most of his evenings at the gym. Thankfully, he didn’t ever see her (and if he did he ignored her), so Rey could easily gawk at him. It wasn’t healthy, but considering that every time she stepped into the office Ben acted like she took the last cookie out of the cookie jar (which she did once), she could suffer peacefully behind the rowing machine.

“Smile for the camera,” Rey says, pointing it towards the empty hallway. It’s creepy, the end of the hallway being swallowed by darkness, but Rey is calm, not afraid of the dark or of the paranormal. 

Ben doesn’t acknowledge her comment, his jaw set and hand not holding his camera gripped into a fist, and instead powers up his GoPro. “You have the script?”

“Yup.” Rey brings up the history of the military base on her phone to recite during their investigation. She took it upon herself to research the facility beforehand so that the two would know what they were facing. Ben had wanted no part of it, furious that she had accidentally interrupted his recording session. “Should I assume you know nothing about this place?”

“A rude assumption, but I actually did do some research.” 

“Shock of the century.”

He turns around to face Rey and says, “I didn’t realize we had an expert on the First Order here.”

“I’m not an expert, I just like to prepare, unlike you.”

“Is your camera on?”

“It is now.”

She hopes that he would keep his tongue in check now knowing that the cameras were rolling. Rey swivels the small camera to face the two of them and she starts reciting the history, having memorized it during the past few days.

“Alright, this is Rey and Ben from the _Galactic Bulletin_ and we are doing a-”

“Is that how you start all of your videos?” Ben interrupts.

“Excuse me?”

“That was the saddest introduction I’ve ever heard.”

Rey scoffs at him and turns her attention back to the camera. “Hey everyone! I’m with famed gamer and professional asshole, Ben Solo. Tonight we are-”

“Seriously?” Ben doesn’t even look mad; he’s exasperated, that’s for sure, but he seems to be slightly on edge, hanging back and not following Rey down the hallway to the left. 

“What? There’s no rules against swearing-”

“You know what I mean. Stop fucking around and let’s get this done.” 

“Fine.” Rey looks at the camera, hopefully for the last time, and addresses it with genuine excitement. “Hello _Galactic Bulletin_ fans! Tonight is the night you have all been waiting for. I am joined here today with my ghost hunting partner, Ben Solo. Tonight we are investigating the dilapidated ruins of Starkiller Base, a military school and bunker that was abandoned over a hundred years ago. We will be combing through every room, every hallway, in search for the answer to the inexplicable question: are ghosts real? We have state-of-the-art ghost hunting technology, such as a spirit box and infrared cameras. To top it all off, we’ll be spending the night here to have the best chance of making contact with some spirits.”

Rey walks further down the hall and shows off the detailed graffiti on the walls, kicking open a door with her foot. It creaks, threatening to fall off the hinges, and she marches in. “I don’t believe in ghosts, personally, but I am totally open to the idea of them existing. What about you, Ben?”

He stands outside the room, cautious when entering. “Me? I do.”

“What?” Rey spins around slowly, fixing the camera on her co-host. “Do my ears deceive me or is Ben Solo, certifiably fuckable redwood, afraid of a little ghost?”

Even in the dark Rey can see his cheeks turning bright red at her comment. His fans were on the thirstier side, and had come up a slew of nicknames for him, all which made him incredibly uncomfortable. She relishes the fact she could use it against him, chuckling at the way he stumbles into the room.

“I’m not afraid, just… cautious.”

Rey considers this, and walks back out of the room, disinterested at the lack of clutter in the room. “Currently, we are in the south wing, which was filled with classrooms used to teach prospective military students about the First Order. We all know the story of the First Order and their regime during the Great War, so I’ll spare you the details. Starkiller Base was the hub for all military activity and suffered much destruction after the Rebellion forces invaded the base. Though it is off limits to the public, we were given special access by-”

As Rey continues reciting the history, she hears Ben topple over onto the ground. He has his foot caught on a desk thrown into the center of the hallway, face buried in the floor.

“You good?”

She receives a reluctant thumbs up from the black mass on the floor before watching him stand back up. “I swear that desk came out of nowhere.”

“Or maybe it’s dark in here and you have two left feet.”

“No, I’m being serious, like, it was not there five seconds ago.” Rey angles the camera up to his face and finds Ben to be panting, face pale (if it could be paler). She finds the culprit on the floor and leans down to inspect it. There isn’t a speck of dust on the desk and she’s momentarily perplexed. How old did she say this place was? There would surely be dust, right?

But Rey isn’t fooled, and flicks a hand in his direction. “Sure, Jan.”

She can practically hear him rolling his eyes as they find a flight of stairs and test them with their weight. “We are now making our way to the second floor, so let’s get into the ghosts that haunt this structure.”

When they reach the top of the stairs, the narrow hallway opens up into a spacious room. It’s barren, having been cleared of junk years prior. Lewd graffiti stains the walls and beams scattered around the room, and she hears Ben snicker at a very detailed portrayal of male genitalia. 

“You’re such a boy,” she says, fake gagging at him. 

He doesn’t comment back. “Let’s go over the spirits.”

The two mosey around the room as Ben runs through the list of ghosts. “The first ghost is of an imperial officer. He appears around the second and third floors and is patrolling the halls. Many feel calm around this spirit at first, but after seeing him multiple times, eyewitnesses report starting to feel queasy around him. Does this mean he has malicious intentions? Possibly.

“The second ghost is of a little girl named Sam. She appears to be about eight-years-old, and can be found all over the property. There’s a doll in this room that she likes to play with. No one knows her relation to Starkiller Base or any of the workers that resided here, but she appears peaceful. However, many demonic spirits can materialize as a benign spirit, such as a child, so it is possible that we may be dealing with an evil entity-”

“That is the biggest load of bollocks I’ve ever heard,” Rey interrupts. “A demon disguising as a little girl? There’s no way they have that much power.”

“Uh, yeah, they definitely do. Ever see _The Exorcist_?”

Rey couldn’t help herself and laughs out loud, tipping her head back and letting her howls echo through the space. “You seriously believe that rubbish? Oh this is too good!” She snorts and immediately shuts up, embarrassed. 

He sighs and continues. “Finally, the last ghost is none other than the Supreme Leader. It is unknown whether or not he died in this building elsewhere, but many have reported seeing his tall, shadowy figure at the ends of hallways and peering out of windows on the top floor. Unfortunately, the stairs are too dangerous to walk up, so we are limited to the third floor. I do have a camera set up in my car that has a view of the entire building, so many we’ll see our dearly departed Leader in one of the windows.”

As he concludes her speech, Rey finds the doll on the floor. It’s porcelain head is still intact, but an arm is broken off, and the yellow dress is torn. The eyes are vacant, haunted maybe, and even Rey feels a chill go up her spine. “Ben, come here, let’s try to make contact with Sam.”

He locates Rey towards a set of windows and stands between her and the doll, holding his recorder out. “If there is anyone here, please make yourself known.”

Rey shook her head in annoyance. “That is no way to make contact with a spirit. You gotta be a little… pushy.” She squats down next to the doll and motions for Ben to follow. “Hey Sam, my name is Rey. We want to play with you, if you want, but we need permission first.”

“There is no way in fucking hell I’m touching that thing.”

“Grow a pair or shut the fuck up,” Rey snaps. She turns her attention back to the doll. “We don’t want to hurt you, we just want to play with you. However, if you don’t give us a sign, we…” She pauses, debating what approach she wants to take. “We’ll move the doll somewhere else, and you’ll have to find it and return it to us.”

“Rey!”

“What?”

“Are you trying to get us possessed or killed?”

Rey’s dumbfounded expression is met by Ben’s widened eyes darting back and forth between hers and the lump of fabric on the floor. “ _I_ am trying to do my job, so if you aren’t going to help, then be quiet and hold my recorder.”

“The editing team is gonna have a field day with this one,” Ben muttered.

Rey rolls her eyes for the thousandth time that night. “Anyhoo, Sam, don’t mind the big brute next to me. He may seem mean but he’s just a gigantic wimp.” Rey shushes the whines of protest from Ben. “We will be quiet for five minutes to give you an opportunity to speak with us. If not, your little doll is going bye bye.”

Silence fills the room as the two listen for any voices or sounds. For the first few minutes, Rey loses hope, the only sound coming from Ben’s intermittent coughs. She perks up at the sound of metal clanging, but deflates at seeing it’s from a branch hitting a nearby window frame. 

But then, she hears it.

And from Ben’s expression, he hears it too.

A voice. So faint you could mistake it for a breeze. But Rey perks up instantly, a smile broadening across her face. “Did you hear that, Ben?”

“I did,” he grits out. 

“It sounded like _play_ , what do you think?”

“I heard _out_. Like, _get out_.” He’s shaking violently, teeth chattering but not from the cold.

Rey nods and brings out the spirit box, setting it on the ground. Ben sits across from her and sets out a flashlight, pointed at the spirit box.

“That’s good, Sam. We can play in a few, but first, we have something for you.” She picks up the device and waves it above her head. “This is an Ovilus, which scans through radio stations at a very quick speed that allows you to communicate with us.” 

She flicks on the spirit box and Ben jumps at the loud static. “Jesus Christ!”

“Sam? If that is you, can you move the doll? Maybe… poke Ben in the chest?”

“Hey, don’t you go dragging me into this!”

Voicing his concern only eggs Rey on, and her voice grows louder. “Actually, maybe play with his hair, or tickle his sides, he’s _very_ -”

“Shut up!” Ben screams; at the same time, the Ovilus starts spitting out various words and phrases: _funny_ , _Sam_ , _too bad_ , and finally _what the fuck_. 

Rey snickers at Ben’s flight response and at the Ovilus. “Did that just say what I think it just said?”

The Ovilus spits out a _yes_.

Rey pumps a fist in the air and claps excitedly. “This is so awesome!”

“Awesomely terrifying,” Ben says, never taking his eyes off the doll.

Rey flashes Ben a smile before returning her attention to the spirit box. “That’s great, Sam, we’ll keep it on for another minute or two, so if you have anything you’d like to say, please feel free.”

Ben scoffs. “Next you’ll be suggesting that it can use our bodies to channel their spirit.”

“People actually do that?”

“On _Ghost Adventures_ they do.”

Rey doesn’t even have a smart comeback for how stupid she thinks that is. So, she continues poking the doll and moving the Ovilus around until the two minutes pass. 

“Alright, Sam, we’re turning off the Ovilus. If you don’t communicate with us, I’m taking the doll. It obviously wants to play with me more than you.”

“Rey are you fucking nuts?”

“Three… two… one.” Rey shuts off the spirit box and gathers the doll up in her hand. “Guess it’s mine now. How does ‘Myrtle’ sound for a name?”

“You should really put that down,” Ben warns, now standing about ten feet from Rey. 

“Jeez, Ben, just calm your tits, nothing’s gonna happen.” 

“You don’t know that.”

Rey’s playful tone is gone now, replaced with annoyance. “I would think that someone of your stature and rudeness would be able to handle this, but I guess not.”

“You’ve never seen a ghost?”

“They don’t exist, Ben.”

“Yes, they do!” His tone is getting firmer, rising to the point where his voice echoes through the building. “You don’t know what it’s like to see one with your own eyes; it paralyses you to the point where you can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t _move_. Until you have that moment, that experience, stop fucking around and leave the doll alone!”

Speechless is an understatement, but Rey heeds Ben’s warning and puts the doll down. She goes to take the camera off the tripod but Ben’s hand stops her. 

“I think we should sleep now.”

Rey isn’t up to fighting with him anymore and sets up her sleeping bag. Ben takes his to the other side of the large room until he becomes a black mass on the ground. Ben requested that they sleep in the same room, but never specified which one, so Rey chose the largest so they would be as far apart as possible. They each have a camera pointing towards them and one in the corner of the room; the recorders batteries are replaced and Rey settles in on the hard ground.

She thinks about brushing her teeth and spitting the remnants out the window, but the floor is too harsh and cold for her to even think about moving. Rey debates about doing another session with the recorder, but anything heard would be picked up by the camera. Knowing sleep would come eventually, she turns away from the lump she knows is Ben and drifts off into restlessness.

*****

Rey wakes with a horrible pain in her neck from sleeping on the concrete floor. She flashes her watch in front of her face: 3:31 A.M. Groaning at how little she has slept, she turns over on her side. Rey opens her eyes to rub at them when she sees a dark figure towering over her.

In the dark she can’t make out the details, but it has about the same proportions as Ben, so she laughs it off. “Ha ha, very funny, Ben.” But the figure doesn’t move away, or laugh back; it remains still, not reacting to Rey. Suddenly the room is twenty degrees colder.

A nervous laugh escapes her throat. “Seriously, Ben, it-it’s three in the m-morning.”

Nothing. The figure drifts closer to her sleeping bag, and she begins to make out some features, such as a misshapen head and claw-like hands.

Rey spies Ben curled up in his sleeping bag on the other side of the room and her screams rattle the window frames.

_“Ben!!!”_

She can’t rip her eyes away from what appears to be the ghost of the Supreme Leader looming over her. If he was as menacing as people made him out to be in real life, ghost-Snoke is a million times worse. Dead eyes bore into Rey as she yells out to Ben again.

“What is it, Rey?”

“Ghost! Ben, it’s f-fucking _Snoke_!” She resists the urge to bolt, petrified that the ghost will attempt to follow her or possess her. 

Maybe Ben wasn’t so full of shit after all.

“Rey, stop fucking aro…” Ben begins, trailing off as Rey hears his sleeping bag shift in the distance.

She can’t even begin to form words; her brain has completely shut down and her body is at the mercy of whatever this ghost has planned for her. Rey learned to push her fear away at a young age from having to fight others for food and warmth in the orphanage. No one knew why she was so fearless, and she wanted to keep it that way. It just didn’t _exist_ in her brain, and the _Galactic Bulletin_ hired her for that exact reason; she won’t shy away from any food challenge and were even in the talks of her doing skydiving or other death-defying challenges. Rey starts to second guess that idea after her stomach becomes so tangled with fear at the sight of a real ghost.

As Rey begins to find her voice just as the ghost disappears before her eyes, and she feels a large presence practically run into her from behind. It’s Ben, she realizes, and his arms go around her as soon as he’s next to her.

“Rey, you’re shaking-”

“I’m fine B-en.” She attempts to push him away but he simply tightens his grip. No amount of squirming and protests would get Ben to release her; Rey goes limp and leans against him, enjoying how warm he is. “Seriously, Ben, I’m okay.”

“You were crying, Rey. Still are, I think.”

Reality starts to come back slowly and she detects a bit of moisture on her face. Rey wipes her eyes quickly and wrenches away from Ben, sinking back into the sleeping bag. “It’s okay, I just was caught off guard. You can go back to your spot, I’ll be fine.” 

“Oh no, I’m coming over here.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He jogs over and snatches his sleeping bag up before depositing it directly next to Rey. There isn’t even a foot of space between the two of them as he pulls the top cover over Rey, essentially tucking her in. Rey knows he can sense her apprehension at the proximity and he says, “At least until you fall asleep.”

She nods and tries to close her eyes, but that fear immediately returns the moment her lids shut. Ben’s soft breathing is the only sound in the room, and it does nothing to stop the rampage of thoughts running through her head. Rey is already confused with her feelings about seeing a ghost, but with Ben not being the usual prick he was to her, she feels unhinged. 

“I can practically hear you thinking.”

His voice makes her jump and she turns slightly to find him staring at her. “It’s just a lot to process, that’s all.”

“Am I making you nervous?” He didn’t ask if he could come over and sleep next to her, but not giving her an option makes her feel somewhat safe, maybe even a little bit of security.

“Yes.” It’s an honest answer.

“Should I go?”

“No. It’s not… that kind of nervousness.” More honesty. She hopes he picks up on what she’s getting at; even if he didn’t feel the same way, Rey could accept that. The panic is trickling back, slowly, but she lets it come, knowing it’s _okay_ to feel this. Fearlessness may have gotten her the job at the _Galactic Bulletin_ , but Rey has come to realize that that’s just not normal to be afraid of _nothing_. 

She can virtually hear his smile, and his hand is suddenly stroking her hair. It’s comforting, soft, his hand the size of her entire head. Her eyes start to droop. “Go to sleep, Rey,” he orders, his voice deep and quiet in the dark. 

*****

Rey doesn’t remember falling asleep, blissfully unaware of her state of being on the floor. She feels relaxed, warm even, and finds the culprit curled up next to her, hand still in her hair, breathing softly.

“I’m awake,” he whispers, resuming his gentle ministrations in her chestnut locks. The bags under his eyes are undeniable, and Rey feels a blush creep up into her cheeks.

“You stayed up the whole night?” It comes out like a question but it’s more like she’s stating a fact; she is genuinely shocked that Ben is still beside her. 

“Of course.”

She doesn’t feel herself move out of the sleeping bag, or crawling on top of Ben. Rey isn’t even certain that he wants this, but once she crashes her lips against his, any coherent thought is thrown out the window.

His lips are soft, but unforgiving. They want to explore and ravish hers, and she allows him to do so. There’s no sense of apprehension, or hesitation; she feels his heartbeat through the thin sweater, and she swears that hers had fallen in sync with his.

She slips her tongue in to test the waters and he _groans_.

“Rey…” he mumbles against her lips. Hands are tangled back in her hair, and she runs hers through his in earnest. It’s tangled and sweaty from sleeping on the floor, hers in probably the same condition, but neither seem to mind, and it’s just _too good to stop_.

She tries to pull away but Ben flips them around, him on top now, straddling her hips with his long legs. He could squish her, easily, but when he leans down to kiss her again she finds his weight to be comforting, wondering if being crushed to death by a human sequoia tree wouldn’t be such a bad way to go.

“Can I touch you? Please?” He’s pleading, _begging_ , like he hasn’t done this in years. Hell, he may have never done this to begin with. But who was she to deny him?

She feels herself nod, her limbs reduced to putty. The sound of her jacket zipper being pulled down her chest snaps her out of the situation for a moment, but she is quickly dazed by Ben marking her neck with his filthy mouth. 

“You have no idea…” Jacket completely unzipped. “...how long…” Palming at her breast through her t-shirt. “...I’ve thought about doing this to you.” His warm hand up her shirt.

She gasps loudly when his index finger gently rubs over her nipple. It’s so wrong to do this on dirty concrete, mere hours after having a run-in with an actual ghost, but Rey is too worked up. “Ben…”

He shoves her bra up over her breast and marvels at her bare chest. She wants to shy away from his gaze, but the wolfish grin on his face from seeing her like this gives her a sense of pride.

“You’re so beautiful.” Ben thumbs over her other nipple and the two lock eyes, Rey’s breath visible in the morning sunrise coating the room in an orange glow. “I never thought it would be possible…”

“Neither did I…” She manages to breathe out, both overstimulated and wanting more, Ben’s ministrations not being quite enough. Rey’s about to ask for more when he wraps his lips around her left nipple, continuing to rub and pinch the right. Her back arches involuntarily and she can’t contain the filthy sounds leaving her throat. Ben doesn’t stop, sucking so hard Rey swears she’s seeing stars. She’s soaked through her pants at this point, and is so turned on she may just come from him playing with her breasts alone. 

Rey opens her eyes to watch him perform, but instead finds the camera pointed directly at the two of them not even ten feet away.

“Ben, the cameras!” She knocks Ben off of her and immediately pulls down her shirt. “Fuck, I’m sorry, I’m so-”

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” he says, shushing her. “They can edit that out.”

“I know but… Finn’s the editor, he’s my best friend, what-”

“They’re gonna suck it up and edit it out. Simple as that.” Ben says it like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do, but Rey wanted this to be something special, something for her and Ben _only_. “Probably isn’t the first time coworkers have tried to fuck on camera.”

“I guess you’re right. We should probably go.” Ben gives her a quick kiss before zipping her jacket back up for her. She takes his outstretched hand and rises to her feet, feeling slightly wobbly. Rey has to ask him that burning question, the one college kids usually ask after a one night stand, and she resists the urge to throw herself out the nearest window. “Ben?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

Taking a deep breath, suppressing her nerves, she stutters over her words. “I-I just wanted to ask… is this… a temporary thing for you? L-like a one time-”

He shuts her up with a searing kiss, grasping the back of her head with such intensity their teeth knock together. “I want you, Rey. I’ve wanted you for a long, _long_ time now. I would like to do this properly, but when you kissed me I sorta lost it. I promise we can go slow if you want.”

“If you don’t take me back home immediately and fuck me, I will lose it, Solo.”

That stupid grin is back; she wants to kiss it off of him but he’s already moved away. He salutes her and starts to take down the cameras. “Yes, ma’am.”

The prospect of there being a _more_ sends a chill down Rey’s spine. While he dismantles the tripod, Rey records a short ending clip summarizing the findings of the night. She, of course, omits the other parts, and barely touches on her encounter with ghost Snoke. They’ll be able to elaborate once editing is finished. By the time she’s done, the chill in the room has returned and her phone is nearly dead. Ben wraps an arm gently around her waist and kisses her forehead. “Ready to go?”

“Very much. This place gives me the heeby jeebies.” 

She tries to walk away, but Ben keeps a firm grip on her hip. He raises his phone up and hits the record button. “So, Rey, after last night, do you believe in ghosts now?”

A giggle escapes her, and she nods. “Yes, you’re hearing that correctly. I, Rey Johnson, believe in the paranormal.”

It’s the first time Rey sees him smile with his teeth; it’s goofy, unfiltered, and oh, she could get used to seeing this more often. 

*****

_**One Week Later** _

“Rey, can you come here for a second?” Finn calls out from his desk.

Rey decided to not tell Finn about what happened at the end of the video, figuring that she would cross that hurdle when she got there. Finn was her best friend and flatmate; if it was anyone else, she would have probably smashed the camera and threw the remnants into the woods. 

She pauses her music and walks around to where she finds him editing the Starkiller Base video. “What’s up?”

“I’m almost finished up editing the video, and what we have is fantastic, but you do know that the video cut out around three in the morning, right?”

“Are you serious?” She is equal parts relieved and furious; they caught a full body apparition on camera, but she wouldn’t have to explain how her and Ben started dating. The office had concluded that something went down at Starkiller, but they kept it to themselves for now, and no one pried. They were only one date in and Rey had fallen hard, and fallen _fast_ ; everyone was accepting, maybe even a little relieved. Finn had made the comment that they were ‘emotionally constipated’ and she couldn’t argue. After that first night in bed together, after she had lost count for how many orgasms he’d given her, she felt as if they needed to make up for lost time almost.

“Yeah, so if anything was caught after that we didn’t get it. I’m sorry, peanut.”

“Nah, it’s alright. We fell asleep shortly before three so we saw everything up until that point.” Rey rubs his shoulder, seeing his face fall. “It’s okay! The video looks amazing so far, I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”

He mutters a thanks and Rey walks back to her desk, only to find her sequoia of a boyfriend in her seat. “I believe that’s my seat.”

“Really? I don’t see a nameplate or anything.” He tilts his head back and puckers his lips asking for a kiss.

“Ben, we’re at work.”

“I know.”

She rolls her eyes and gives him a soft kiss, Spider-man style. “You’re insatiable.”

“Only for you.” He starts to stand but then sees what she was researching. “Ah, I see you’re finally realizing how good _Ghost Adventures_ is.”

“I’m doing research for our next episode.”

“Got bit by the ghost hunting bug?”

“Maybe, but I think there’s something else influencing my interest,” she says, smirking at him. She may have called him insatiable, but routinely proved that she could never get enough in the bedroom. “The break room is usually dead around this time.”

“And that’s important to me why…?”

She winks and walks slowly to the break room, and soon she hears her chair squeak as he pops up and follows her. The door isn’t even fully closed when she yanks Ben’s arm and slams her lips against his, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. Their first real date was coming up later that night after work, and even though they were just bowling and dinner, it felt so special to Rey to know that he wasn’t pulling out the big bucks for this date. He had ordered fancy take-out the night after they had sex for the first time and she flipped, and Ben learned his lesson. It felt normal, something Rey had been seeking for her whole life. She could see them being together for longer than anyone she has previously dated. Rey smiles into his mouth as Ben sits her on the countertop to make her come undone for a few stolen moments in the staff break room. 

Yeah, she would _never_ get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/bewithmereylo) and [Tumblr](https://bewithmereylo.tumblr.com/) :)


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